Mortality in vegetarians and comparable nonvegetarians in the United Kingdom

Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

Background: Vegetarians and others who do not eat meat have been observed to have lower incidence rates than meat eaters of some chronic diseases, but it is unclear whether this translates into lower mortality.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe mortality in vegetarians and comparable nonvegetarians in a large United Kingdom cohort.

Design: The study involved a pooled analysis of data from 2 prospective studies that included 60,310 persons living in the United Kingdom, comprising 18,431 regular meat eaters (who ate meat ≥5 times/wk on average), 13,039 low (less-frequent) meat eaters, 8516 fish eaters (who ate fish but not meat), and 20,324 vegetarians (including 2228 vegans who did not eat any animal foods). Mortality by diet group for each of 18 common causes of death was estimated with the use of Cox proportional hazards models.

Site Search

Hours & Location

Social Media

Justin is a scholar and clinician of Classical Chinese Medicine living in San Diego, California, where he maintains a private practice specializing in stress, gastrointestinal, infertility, and autoimmune conditions.